Michael Billington has lived through an era of radical change in politics, society and the theatre. And the stage, he says, is the art form that best reflects the mood of the nation. To mark the publication of his new history of postwar theatre, he takes us on a 50-year odyssey of war, unrest and social revolution.

She's the grande dame of British theatre, doesn't suffer fools and rarely gives interviews. So when Simon Hattenstone got one, he was determined to be on time for Judi Dench. Only he didn't take into account the traffic on the A40. So just how many questions can you fit into 30 seconds?

A year ago Nicholas Hytner took over a critically embattled and demoralised National Theatre. Today he is the brightest star on the British cultural scene. Is he really as good as the hype, asks Maddy Costa.

'Much as I love it, the theatre is an inherently conservative business, increasingly run by marketing and finance departments, occasionally trying to reinvent itself as the new rock 'n' roll when really it's as rock 'n' roll as Ben Elton's underpants.'

'When you've got a great play, it's not difficult to persuade an actor to come here - the job is to convince the agent and the machine around these people. I have to convince them that this would be a good career move over making a movie.'

'In the 1950s, Brecht said he found British theatre antediluvian - we've moved on since then, but there are still plenty of dinosaurs. British theatre is akin to British football before the foreign coaches and players arrived, or the Labour party before Blair and Mandelson - out-of-date methods, out-of-date structures, too many old-fashioned ideas and practices. The old bottles mustn't be allowed to kill off the new wine.'

'Every play I work on is a brand new experience. Like a good shag, the one I am working on at the moment always seems to be the most riveting and exciting. It is only when I look back that I remember how great the others were.'

'Radical invention requires a clean slate. Shakespeare started writing for a theatre industry which had only existed for 15 years and which was widely derided as vulgar, licentious and coarse. The more tired, conservative and celebrity-driven theatre becomes, the better the opportunity to make it buzz.'

'Our strengths are our weaknesses: we produce good work in a short period of time; we work well under pressure; and there are lots of good actors. On the other hand everything is done under pressure, on a shoestring - the more time and money you have, the greater the chance the work will be good.'